<p>It's a fact, consumers and businesses are being a *lot* more picky<br />about where they spend their money these days. Expenses are getting<br />cut to the bone, and most costs that can be even vaguely classified<br />as "luxuries" are getting tossed aside like 3 day old gum.<br /><br />So, how do you keep yourself or your product on the list of "Must<br />Haves" and off the list of "expenses" getting slashed? <br /><br />Here's a few quick tips:<br /><br /><strong>1. Show An Immediate Return On Investment.<br /></strong><br />The easiest way to stay on the "Gotta have it" list is to show in<br />no uncertain terms that you're product or *service* makes your<br />customers more money than it *costs* them.<br /><br />For example, in my role as a high fallutin' marketing mucky muck<br />and copywriter, I can show pretty easily that for every dollar my<br />clients spend with me, they earn several dollars more in profit<br />that they wouldn't have had before.<br /><br />Which is great for me and others like me in the "Marketing" game.<br />But how do you show ROI when you're not in the "helping people make<br />more money" biz? Good question. All you've got to do is . . . <br /><br /><strong>2. Be The Cheaper And Higher Value Alternative.</strong><br /><br />Now, before we get into this, let me say right now that I'm *not*<br />suggesting that you cut your prices. So get that part out of your<br />head right now. <br /><br />In copywriting there's a concept called "comparing apple's to<br />oranges."<br /><br />That's where you compare the price of what you've got to sell to<br />much higher priced alternatives.<br /><br />For instance, you might compare the value of a $27 e book to the<br />value of a $2,000.00 in person seminar. <br /><br />It's an incredibly effective sales technique.<br /><br />And you can do the same thing in your business.<br /><br />Ask yourself, what were your customers (or potential customers)<br />paying for before that they don't want to (or can't) pay for now?<br /><br />And how can your service provide the same or similar results (or<br />even just perceived results) at a lower cost?<br /><br />Need an example? <br /><br />If you're a massage therapist, you could compare you're high value<br />massage against the cost of physical therapy, chiropractic or<br />alternative pain relief treatments.<br /><br />If you run a bike shop, you could compare the cost of a bicycle<br />against the cost of gas, insurance, car repairs, gym memberships<br />and . . . uh . . well . . . heart attack surgery.<br /><br />And if you're selling video game consoles you could compare the<br />cost of a video game versus the cost of a night out, a movie or<br />even an evening of bowling.<br /><br />The key here is to make your customers feel like they're *saving*<br />money by *spending* with you.<br /><br /><strong>3. Be Creative In Your Pricing . . . Make it Easy For Your<br />Customers</strong><br /><br />I can't even tell you how often I smack my hand against my massive<br />noggin and bemoan how hard so many businesses make it for me to do<br />business with them.<br /><br />If you want to survive in today's tough times, you've got to make<br />spending money with you the simplest thing in the world.<br /><br />That means offering a strong guarantee (and standing behind it no<br />matter what) . . . offering package pricing that seems like a<br />killer deal and do everything you can to make your customers feel<br />great working with your business.<br /><br />And finally, the best way to become Indispensable is to . . . <br /><br /><strong>&nbsp;4. Give people What They Want</strong><br /><br />This one seems obvious, and I'm sure I've talked about it before.<br />But the single best&nbsp; way to become Indispensable is to find out<br />what your customers are worried about and what they truly want . .<br />. and to give it to them.<br /><br />Not what you think they want.<br /><br />Not what you want them to want. (That's the quickest path to<br />failure.)<br /><br />But what they actually want. <br /><br />And realize that what people want when money is tight and times are<br />tough is a lot different than what they want when things are flush.<br /></p> 2008-12-17T20:55:56Z 2008-12-18T06:27:03Z -13.8777 476 2533 true 15 179 how-to-make-yourself-indispensable 5 2008-12-18T06:26:56Z 2008-12-18T06:26:56Z

Are you worried that you'll get laid off or lose sales in today's crappy economy? You're not alone. But follow these simple steps and you'll make yourself absolutely indispensable.

0 2009-02-24T09:47:58Z